[Winona Online Democracy]
Greetings,
Below is Dr. Bartleson's "From my Perspective" summary of last night's
school board meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions.
-Steve Kranz, Board Member
-Winona Area Public Schools
----------------------
Board Meeting Highlights
Board Meeting
9.04.03
HEADLINES
Students Honored for Achievements
Two young men were recognized for their amazing achievements. Nick Lowery
was recognized for his PERFECT ACT score. Nick is a WSHS senior and the
son of WAPS employees Scott Lowery and Connie Blackburn.
Garrett Heath was recognized for claiming SIX state championship titles
last school year. These championships were: State AA Cross Country
Champion, State AA Nordic Skiing championships in the 5K, Classic, and
Combined, and the state championship in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs.
Garrett is the son of Bob and Linda Heath.
CONGRATULATIONS NICK AND GARRETT!!!
School Board Approves Revised Weapons Policy
The board gave final approval to a revised weapons policy that incorporates
language of the new "conceal and carry" law into the policy. The changes
allow the "lawful" carry or possession of a firearm in a school parking lot
or parking facility. This policy statement is specifically limited to
nonstudent permit-holders authorized under Minn. Stat., Section 624.714.
The policy restricts permit holders to carry a pistol in the interior of a
vehicle or outside the motor vehicle for the purpose of directly placing a
firearm in, or retrieving it from, the trunk or rear area of the vehicle.
Any possession or carry of a firearm beyond the immediate vicinity of a
permit-holder's vehicle shall constitute a violation of this policy.
The Winona Daily News headline this morning may be a little misleading:
"WAPS changes weapons policy: School employees may keep guns in cars"
This is a factual statement, but implies that the policy change were made
to allow school employees to keep guns in cars. This is not a change in
policy. This existed in the previous policy. There was discussion by the
board to not allow employees to keep guns on school property in accordance
with MS 97B.045 that specifies that firearms may be transported in a motor
vehicle only if it is unloaded and I in a gun case that fully encloses the
firearm, or to keep it unloaded in the trunk of the vehicle.
A PDF copy of the policy is attached.
****************************************************************
4:30 p.m. The board met in closed session to discuss negotiations
strategy.
Chairperson Kranz called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm
STUDENT MEMBER REPORT
Student member Stephanie Fix reported on the following:
� Excitement of first day and week of school
� Fall sports underway
� Club meetings such as National Honor Society are beginning to meet
�
PARENT/COMMUNITY COMMENT-
Karl Sonneman addressed the board regarding Grade-Level schools that were
brought up at the last board meeting. He requested that if the board chose
to continue this discussion that it is done with a broad-based committee of
community members.
INFORMATION
Transportation and Bussing Update
Jeff Seeley reported on the first few days of the new two tier bussing
system. Problems with late busses were attributed to:
-changes in location of bus stops
-distances and geography on the rural routes
-students not being on time to board busses at the end of the day
-delays to make sure we had all students on the bus
-driver familiarity with new routes
Kirk Wilke of Minnesota City Bus Company also addressed the board and
apologized to the board members and community members for the
inconveniences caused by late busses in this first week.
Both Jeff and Kirk expect that all of the issues will be resolved in about
a week and encouraged patience on the part of parents during this
transition period.
Media Update
Mary Alice Anderson provided the board an update on the media programs with
a focus on K-8 programs.
She pointed out that improvements had been made in computer accessibility
for students, network servers, software, access to online services, and
book collections.
She noted that we also have improvements to make in the age of our media
book collections, and that we continue to spend below the state average for
book funding per pupil.
Lack of professional staffing, limited media center hours in K-4, limited
media center automation systems, and curriculum integration and teacher
awareness as continuing issues.
Her complete PowerPoint report will be available on the district website
soon.
Enrollment Update
I provided the board with a VERY PRELIMINARY enrollment report.
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | 4.16.03 | | | |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | Projected| Actual | Difference| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|K | 270| 241| -29| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|Gr 1-4 | 1022| 996| -26| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|Gr 5 | 276| 285| 9| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|Gr 6-8 | 958| 1004| 46| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|Gr 9-12 | 1449| 1505| 56| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | 3975| 4031| 56| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | | 45| | |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | | | | |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | 3975| 3986| 11| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
| | | | | |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
|Oct 1 02| | 4088| -102| |
|--------+---------+--------+----------+--------|
The above chart shows that we have 102 fewer students reported this first
week than we had on our official Oct. 1 report for 2002.
It also shows that we have 11 more students than we had projected on April
16th, 2002 for this school year.
The problems continue to exist in the Kindergarten and grades 1-4 with
fewer students than projected. These are offset by higher than projected
numbers in grades 5-12.
CAUTION: Our official Oct. 1 count numbers usually are lower than what
we record during our first week, and we anticipate that to be the case
again this year. We will start to receive a number of drops and transfer
information in the next few days that will alter these numbers.
It appears that we continue to lose approximately 100 students per year,
and that our Kindergarten numbers do not indicate that this trend will end
for some time.
In October I will also report on where are ADDS came from and where our
DROPS are going. This will give us a pretty clear picture of how we are
doing in comparison to area schools, charter schools, and parochial
schools.
Discussion on Administration Move
The board and administration discussed the pending relocation of the
administrative offices. I reported that we have been told that WSU is
planning on making an offer on the Lincoln building in the near future.
Discussion centered around proposals for relocation to Winona County
facilities and WSHS.
The board asked that administration follow this process in providing board
information to make a decision in a timely fashion:
1. Seek staff input from all affected by the move. This would
include central office personnel and WSHS staff.
2. What dollars are available from the sale of Lincoln for relocation
and renovation?
3. Explore other options at WSHS than those we have looked at to date.
4. Set up tours of possible relocation sites for board members
5. Provide board with a list of all possible options
6. Provide board with cost of upgrades to WSHS required by the Fire
Marshall
7. Have architect look at the entire WSHS facility for possible
alternative locations for administrative offices that may not have been
identified by administration
8. Identify a comprehensive list of facility needs at WSHS and potential
phases for completion.
Redistricting/Grade Level Buildings
I outlined the present attendance boundaries and used a map of the
district as a visual for the board and the public. I noted some of the
issues that may need to be addressed:
W-K boundaries continue to grow with the elimination of Ridgeway
and Dakota as district schools. W-K will have a large rural area as
a part of it's attendance area.
Rollingstone attendance area could be expanded to include more of the
rural areas and provide rural residents with a rural setting for
their educational program.
Goodview and Jefferson also take in large rural areas and these
should be modified to provide more equitable distribution of
students.
Board members spent considerable time on whether or not to include a
discussion of Grade Level schools as a part of the redistricting process.
It was decided that redistricting should focus on current problem areas and
separate redistricting issue from grade level building issue.
Superintendent Search
The board approved a recommendation to issue a Request for Proposals for a
consultant to assist in the recruitment of a new superintendent. Pat
Blaisdell will send these out and a committee of the board will be
appointed to review RFPs from consulting firms and make a recommendation
to the full board.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Next Meeting: September18, 2003
_______________________________________________
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